The former senator said his appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court about the 2008 election outcome, which he plans to file Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, will offer a full airing of his key objection to the recent election trial.

The crux of the appeal, Coleman said, will be that under the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause, there remain about 4,400 unopened absentee ballots that should be counted because similar ballots from other counties were counted.

“We think we’ve got a legitimate constitutional argument and believe strongly there are thousands of Minnesotans whose votes should be counted,” Coleman said in a Forum Communications interview.